my story.
I’ve always thought of my life in chapters with each chapter having a beginning and close, but each building on top of another to tell my story. Although I’m only a few chapters in, quite a lot has happened so far. Let’s start from the beginning shall we?
I was born in the summer of ‘88 in Sulphur, Louisiana. I remember crawfish boils on Easter, catching baby frogs and naming them after interesting color names (magenta, indigo, and periwinkle), and camping A LOT with my grandparents and cousin.
When I was 9 we moved to a small town south of Houston, TX where I guess you can say I “grew up.” I finished elementary where I was convinced I was going to grow up and be on Broadway. Then off to middle school where I spent 3 years in band and hated every second of it. And finally, High School when I decided I was going to grow up and become a big fashion designer because I was obsessed with Project Runway.
My DIY Puff Quilt
This was one of my first big DIY projects I worked on with my grandma and great grandma. We made individual stuffed squares out of scrap fabric and then sewed them all together into a big quilt. It took foreverrrrrr haha and it was so heavy!!
In 2000, my mom and I opened a boutique where we sold home decor products and decorated clients’ homes. I worked in the boutique every day after school and on the weekends, redecorating the showroom and traveling to home markets with her to buy new products to sell in the boutique. My mom was and still is an incredible designer and I credit so much of my love for interiors to her.
In 2007, I got accepted to The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles, California. So I packed everything I could in 3 suitcases and moved to a city where I didn’t know a soul to follow my dream of becoming a fashion designer. I loved every second of college even the all-nighters I pulled to finish big projects. I graduated cum-laude with an Associates of Arts degree in Fashion Design and a Bachelors of Science degree in Business Management.
In 2008, I started working in an Italian Restaurant in downtown Los Angeles after classes and that’s where I met Romeo! After 12 years together, he's still my best friend!!!
After interning at more fashion companies than I could count, I landed my first fashion job as an Assistant Designer. I attended fashion shows and designed collections, but after about a year I realized I didn’t enjoy designing clothes as much as I thought I would. I did love the Fashion and Design Industry, I just couldn’t imagine myself making patterns and sewing all-day for my entire career.
In 2011, I took an entry-level job in the marketing department for a large lifestyle brand. Over the next several years with a lot of hard work, I climbed the corporate ladder and in 2015 I became the Vice President of Marketing. After 3 years in the role, I wore more “hats” than would fit for sure and although it was a good job, I ultimately knew it wasn’t for me. My job was becoming less and less creative by the second and I’d always dreamt of owning my own business.
I took a leap of faith and quit my job to start my next chapter. I had saved quite a bit of money to help me through the transition and took on various freelance jobs to help with income.
After attempting several different business ideas and nothing really working out, I started getting back to my interior design roots. In High School, I loved helping my mom decorate homes and style the boutique for different seasons. There were also so many projects I wanted to work on for my own home like up-cycling a table and painting some wall art for my bedroom.
Now that I was working from home full time we could finally adopt a dog and being isolated at home after coming from a hectic corporate job, I definitely needed a furry companion! In January 2018, we adopted Kinsley - an energic, loving, ball of cuteness that I don’t know how I could ever live without.
In August 2018, I decided to film myself working on my various home projects and start a YouTube channel. I quickly fell in love with creating videos and sharing my projects online. The first year was all about learning for me — how to get better and better at creating content and videos (and getting more comfortable on camera). I was hopeful that one day I would be able to make videos full time and actually turn my channel into a real business.
What started as just a creative outlet for me has now grown into a community of over 650,000 creative humans sharing a love for DIY and home decor. I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to connect, share and learn from you every day! With a combination of my hard work, dedication and you showing up for me every Sunday — my dreams have come true… and we’re only just beginning.
Thank you & I love you guys!
XO, MaCenna